Terrorists drive a truck loaded with TNT into the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut, killing 241 Americans.

November 6-9, 1983

Former presidents Carter and Ford co-chair a conference at the Carter Center, "Five Years after Camp David." Though Israel boycotts the conference, the media reports favorably on the attempt.

Early March 1984

Carter joins a Habitat for Humanity construction crew in Americus, Georgia for morning devotions and a day of house building. The New York Times reports, "Mr. Carter has been toiling in a callous-raising enterprise that may be unheard of for a former Commander in Chief."

September 1, 1984

Carter, his wife Rosalynn and 36 others leave Georgia on a Trailways bus headed to New York, where they work on a tenement house for Habitat for Humanity.

Carter publishes a book, The Blood of Abraham, about the Middle East peace process.

November 13, 1985

A volcano erupts in Colombia. Carter continues with his previously scheduled trip there and administers the Sabin polio vaccine to two infant boys on national television.

June 1986

The Carter Center's Global 2000/Sasakawa Africa Association opens its first office in Accra, Ghana. By 1991, the project's end date, Ghana will become a self-sufficient food-producing nation.

The Carter Center

Dedication of the Carter Center

October 1, 1986

President Reagan attends the dedication of the Carter Center. After a gracious speech by Reagan, Carter replies, "I think I understand more clearly than I ever had before why you won in November 1980 and I lost."

January 28, 1987

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, next to the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, opens to researchers.

May 1987

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's book, Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life, is published and stays on The New York Times bestseller list for 10 weeks.

October 21, 1987

The Carter Center convinces Merck, a Fortune 500 pharmaceuticals giant, to donate the drug Mectizan for as long as might be needed to control river blindness in Africa.

September 26, 1988

Brother Billy Carter dies at the age of 51 from pancreatic cancer.

November 1988

Jimmy Carter publishes An Outdoor Journal, recounting a lifetime of experiences as a fisherman and hunter.

The Carter Center

Carter works as an election monitor

May 9, 1989

Former presidents Carter and Ford jointly lead a team of Panamanian election monitors.

September 7-19, 1989

Preliminary peace negotiations between the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front begin at The Carter Center.

The Carter Center monitors the polls during general elections in Ghana.

December 1992

Carter publishes Turning Point, an account of his first election to the Georgia senate.

May 9, 1993

Carter and other observers monitor elections in Paraguay.

October 1993

Guinea worm disease is eradicated in Pakistan.

October 15, 1993

Carter, along with former presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush, announce they will serve as chairmen of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) commission.

The Carter Center

Carter meets with North Korean leaders

June 12-18, 1994

The Carters meet with North and South Korean leaders to discuss nuclear disarmament. A few weeks later, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung dies, aborting the planned reunification talks.

September 17-18, 1994

Carter heads a mission to Haiti with former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell and Georgia Senator Sam Nunn at the request of President Clinton. They negotiate terms of departure for Haiti's de facto leaders. The successful meetings avert a U.S.-led multinational invasion and result in a signed agreement for the peaceful removal of the officers from power.

December 17-21, 1994

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter travel to the former Yugoslavia to facilitate talks among warring Bosnian Muslims and Serbs. The Carter mission produces a four-month cease fire and the resumption of peace talks.

March 30, 1995

Carter negotiates a two-month Sudanese cease-fire allowing leaders and citizens of Sudan to initiate efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease, prevent river blindness, and immunize children against polio and other diseases.

January 18-21, 1996

The Carters lead a 40-member delegation from 11 countries to Jerusalem to observe Palestinian elections.

My American Experience

Who was your favorite 20th-century American president? Was it FDR? Kennedy? Reagan? Or one of the other 14 men who helped usher the United Sates through the 1900s? Who do you think was the most influential?